You know, it's funny... random self-appointed open source evangelists tend to show up on the Battle for Wesnoth forums a few times a year complaining about the lack of "editable source" for the music tracks. Which is a ridiculous notion of course, as music != executable code. Still, this happens quite regularly and some even go as far as questioning whether it's in the spirit of the GPL -- or legal, even -- to let music contributors use commercial programs and samples for creating the music(!).

Three days ago I released stem tracks for six of my Wesnoth tunes. "Stem tracks" being the separate, dry, unprocessed audio tracks that make up the final mixes of the music in question. You can literally take these stems, plop them in any multi-track host of your choice, and then create your own remixes or edits. This is probably as close as you can get to "editable source" for music. Think of it as the music equivalent of a layered psd instead of a merged png.

I did this because I felt it was a nice thing to do. I'm not obligated to do anything of the sort, but I personally enjoy it when artists release stems of their work (as rare as it may be) because it gives you an insight into how the songs were created. So it seemed like a cool idea.

Here comes the fun part: so far I've had two downloads. That's right, TWO. In three days. And not a single comment anywhere I've posted about this release, including the Wesnoth forums. Not that I expected the GPL thumpers to be lining up around the block to applaud my efforts, but at least SOME response would have been nice. Like, you know, "thanks" or "I wish others did this too".

I'm sad to say that I'm done with OSS contributions, for a number of reasons. This was just the last straw.

I think you're seeing too much into this. It's Christmas season after all, I'd imagine that forum traffic is severely reduced these days. I for one certainly appreciate the release but haven't browsed the Wesnoth fora for a week or so. (I can't to be your third downloader right now, however, because I'm on mobile broadband).

I'm sad to hear that you're leaving. Thanks for all the awesome music and best luck with your musician career!

Wesnoth activity in general has been steadily decreasing for the last few years, and some of the most vocal supporters of the GNU GPL have left or are currently MIA. I wouldn’t worry about it, but it’s your choice.

I'm really sorry to read this, but I'm not surprised.
Using your stems requires skills very few people have, and certainly not the GPL cops. They probably think hassling creators is a valuable contribution, but every sensible person knows it's works like yours which make Wesnoth better, not their rants. Please, don't give up, don't surrender to mediocrity.

I'm very disappointed to hear this You've been one of Wesnoth's best music contributors, and I was quite looking forward to your THKM remake. I hope you decide to ignore the GPL prudes and rethink your decision.

Creator of Shadows of Deception (for 1.12) and co-creator of the Era of Chaos (for 1.12/1.13).SurvivalXtreme rocks!!!
What happens when you get scared half to death...twice?

Me too. I guess that the problem arises from the fact that Wesnoth was released in 2003, when the CC licenses were just created and nobody talked about them. So, at the time, releasing everything as GPL was an obvious choice. If Wesnoth was born today, I guess that our choice will be to release the code under the GPL, and the assets under one of the CC licenses - but that's just my guess.